


Good Job

by NanakiBH



Category: Free!
Genre: Coming Out, Friendship, Hugs, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2013-10-07
Packaged: 2017-12-28 18:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/995353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanakiBH/pseuds/NanakiBH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just an average day for the (new and improved) Samezuka Academy swimming team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Job

Emerging from the water with a gasp, Rin placed both hands on the edge of the pool and looked up at the one who knelt there waiting for him.

“Well?” he asked, panting, pulling off his goggles and diving cap.

As Nitori looked at the stopwatch he had in his hand, his stoic expression was gradually interrupted by an enormous grin, and he turned the watch around for Rin to see for himself.

“You beat your best time by one second! One whole second, senpai! That's incredible progress for someone who's already as amazing as you!”

Nitori clutched the watch to his chest and beamed, and Rin just couldn't help himself.

Before, it wouldn't have mattered to him. One second, two seconds – they were just numbers to him in the past. It didn't matter what his personal best times were because they had nothing to do with how he would perform during a real tournament, but something happened to change the way he felt. Haruka and the others certainly played a big part. When he swam together with them, they helped stitch closed the wounds that had remained on his heart since they were children. With the holes patched, the feelings Nitori had been trying to send to him finally filled his heart, filling him with affection, admiration, and a determinaton to swim for someone else.

Putting his stength in his arms, he hoisted himself out of the water and collapsed on top of Nitori, nearly knocking them both over as he wrapped his arms around his slight shoulders.

Nitori laughed, petting his hands over Rin's wet hair. “Good job, senpai! You're doing so well lately. Your training regimen seems to be about the same, so I don't know what you're doing, but you should definitely keep doing it.”

“It's you,” Rin said, a giddy laugh bubbling up from his chest, feeling like he'd just admitted a secret. As his pulse calmed, he rested his chin against Nitori's shoulder so only he could hear him when he spoke. “I could hear you cheering for me.”

He couldn't see Nitori's face, but he felt him suddenly go stiff. A moment later, he felt the shoulder beneath his chin quiver and Nitori's arms came up to encircle his wet back.

“I... I'm so glad, Rin.” That might have been a sniff that Rin heard. “I've been cheering for you this whole time.”

“I know,” Rin said.

“I'll keep cheering for you. Always.”

It was getting to be a little too much, so he gently separated himself from Nitori and looked away, coughing quietly, trying to return the atmosphere to the way it usually was. He wasn't used to the full force of Nitori's attention quite yet. Although he was excited to finally unleash his affection, Nitori still understood when to give him his space and kindly backed away, placing his hands down on his knees.

From the other end of the pool came an obnoxiously familiar voice.

“Oh? What's going on over there?”

Their captain was supposed to be looking for one of their MIA teammates, but it appeared that he'd chosen to make his reentrance at just the perfect time. Rin didn't know how long Mikoshiba had been standing there, but, by the sound of it, he'd seen enough.

“Nothing's going on, _captain._ ”

“Really?” Mikoshiba asked, rubbing his chin, feigning skepticism. “'Cause it sure looks like something interesting is going on over there with you two. Can I join the fun?”

He smiled at them with a gross grin; the kind Rin would have been glad to smack off his face, whether he was their captain or not. Normally, he didn't have a problem with the guy – as long as he minded his own business. Unfortunately, he had the tendency to stick his nose where it didn't belong.

Rin felt that he could still have a little bit of fun with him, even if it didn't involve giving him a smack upside the head.

As he stood, he felt Nitori's eyes following him. Inside, he begged himself to not get too excited. “Sorry,” Rin said, glancing down at Nitori from the corners of his eyes, dying to see how he would react to what he was about to say, “but I don't think Nitori would be into a threesome.”

Caught by surprise, Mikoshiba gaped and flailed, nearly falling face-first into the pool. Rin reached him just in time and set his shameful captain back on his feet. He wanted to mess with him, but he didn't intend to give him a heart attack. He patted him on the back and held onto his shoulder to make sure that he wasn't going to suddenly faint.

Mikoshiba looked down at the hand holding his shoulder and made a face.

“Sorry, but you're not the Matsuoka I'm interested in.”

_Wrong thing to say._

His fist acted faster than his brain, but his better judgment managed to stop it just beneath Mikoshiba's jaw, before it had the opportunity to knock him over backwards. “ _What_ did you just say, captain?” he asked, digging his nails into Mikoshiba's bare shoulder.

The unexpected sound of laughter drew his attention, and Rin slowly lowered his fist to look behind him.

Nitori had stood up and was watching them with a big smile on his face, laughing like they were the funniest thing he'd seen. When Nitori noticed that they were looking at him, he tried to stifle his laughs, but that just made it worse and he laughed harder. He and Mikoshiba completely forgot what they were even getting loud about while Nitori's laughter continued. When it finally seemed to subside, Nitori approached them, wiping at the corners of his eyes with the back of his wrist.

“What's so funny?” Rin mumbled.

The two curiously watched Nitori as he waltzed behind them. A second later, they were choking as Nitori jumped up to grab them both around the neck in a fierce hug that knocked the wind right out of their lungs.

“I was just thinking about how happy I am,” he said, letting go when he noticed them turning blue. As he got down and stepped back, they turned around to look at him, wondering what could have possibly gotten into him. Their argument didn't sound like cause for such a response. As if he could read their thoughts, Nitori said, “Because we really feel like a team.”

Rin stared, tilting his head to the side slowly as he thought about what Nitori said.

“I don't understand.”

“Neither do I,” Mikoshiba agreed, “but I think I know what he means.”

Rin's stare redirected itself to Mikoshiba. “Huh?”

He folded his arms over his chest and adopted a look of concentration. “How do I put it? It's like – you know. After the tournament. And with practice lately. Things are just – yeah.”

His inspecific mumblings didn't make any more sense to Rin than what Nitori said, but...

When he saw the two of them smiling so happily for no apparent reason, he couldn't help but agree. There was something about the unfamiliar yet comfortable atmosphere that surrounded them that just felt right. It reminded him of when he saw Haruka's team laughing together over nothing. When he saw Haruka and the others like that, he felt some kind of gloomy feeling stirring inside of him; jealousy, maybe.

He wanted to be a part of that. He wanted to have what they had.

And now...

He saw what had been in front of him all along. And, just like Nitori, he couldn't help smiling and laughing.

“See? You get it now too, don't you?” Mikoshiba asked. “The old Rin would've been like, 'Whatever, I can't practice with you guys if you aren't going to take things seriously!'”

Rin stopped laughing. “Was that supposed to be an impression of me, captain?”

He turned to him with a deadly glare. Mikoshiba waved his hands around in front of himself , emphatically denying that he'd done any such thing. If he were being honest, Rin would have admitted that it sounded like a pretty fair impression, but he wasn't prepared to get _that_ friendly with Mikoshiba yet. He rather enjoyed having a certain level of intimidation over him.

With a huff, he let his glare soften. “I'll let it slide – _this time._ ”

“Good. Because it's about time we got back to practicing here. We can't waste all of our time standing around like this, even if we're best buddies now!”

Mikoshiba was really trying to see how far he could go before Rin would give up and push him into the pool, wasn't he?

“Um...”

They both looked down when they heard Nitori raise his voice. Staring at his feet, his fidgetted around, then slowly looked up at them. His cheeks were tinted a deep, embarrassed red.

“Captain Mikoshiba, you aren't bothered that Rin and I are...?”

Right. Rin had the feeling he had been forgetting something. Now that Nitori brought it back up, the fact that he had all but admitted to their captain that he and Nitori were in a relationship was a little more than embarrassing. He wasn't too worried about anyone finding out because anyone who didn't want to get tossed into the pool wouldn't question the things he did, but he wasn't just dating anyone. It was _Nitori._

Hell, Rin didn't care about what that made other people think of him. It was Nitori he was worried about.

Their captain wasn't the type he had to be worried about, though.

“Huh?” He paused upon hearing Nitori's question. “Nah, it's fine. I think a few of us already had it figured out. I mean, Samezuka's an all boy's school, ain't it? You think I'm surprised?”

That was enough of that.

Rin gave him a nice shove into the pool, and didn't spare a second look behind himself, even if he could hear all of Mikoshiba's flustered sputtering and splashing. He fixed his eyes on Nitori and put his hands on his hips.

“Nitori...”

Nitori ducked his head at his warning, but he didn't do well at hiding the little smile he wore. “Sorry, senpai. I won't say anything else.”

There were some things Rin would like to stay the same, but he didn't mind the way some other things were beginning to change.

Nitori looked up at him as he took the stopwatch from his hands.

“Alright,” Rin staid, starting his walk to the other side of the pool, “you get in there. It's your turn now, Ai.”

“Alright, Rin-senpai!”


End file.
